Fred Durst Interview: The Stampede, The Comeback & Limp Bizkit’s Raging Resurgence
Blood-red stage lights burn through a haze of sweat and nostalgia. The crowd — a jostling sea of backward caps and tattooed arms — surges and sways as if 1999 never ended. It’s 2013 in a packed club, but time warps tonight. Limp Bizkit is back, and they’re louder than the doubters. Fred Durst grips the mic, a grin beneath his signature cap, as the opening riff of “Break Stuff” detonates a mosh-pit frenzy. This is no gentle reunion tour — it’s a chaotic homecoming, a stampede of sound and memories charging headlong into the present.
Artwork by MUG5. Original photo by Eva Ivanova, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Original article by Adam Robertshaw for AltSounds.
The Return of the Red Cap
More than a decade after their meteoric rise, Limp Bizkit’s return carries a nostalgic grit — a blend of irony and earnest love. Once reviled by critics and written off as nü-metal’s most divisive band, they’ve unexpectedly become the hottest ticket on the nostalgia circuit. “It seems almost impossible that Limp Bizkit still exist,” Vice mused in mid-2013 — then answered with a wink: “word to your mother, they do, and they’re **** great.” In their heyday, Bizkit were as adored by legions of kids as they were scorned by others, “equally loved and hated.” By 2013, that love-it-or-hate-it legacy had come full circle. A new generation of fans (and plenty of older ones) packed venues to capacity — just weeks earlier, Limp Bizkit and fellow nü-metal icons Korn had sold out London’s Wembley Arena, drawing 12,500 roaring devotees. The nu-metal revival was in full swing, and the once-maligned Limp Bizkit found themselves unlikely godfathers of the movement.
Fred Durst surveys the manic crowd at each show with a mix of triumph and humility. For all the tongue-in-cheek bravado that Limp Bizkit represents, there’s a real human undercurrent tonight: an unspoken pact between band and fans to not go gentle into nostalgia’s good night. Limp Bizkit’s resurgence is raw, unruly, alive. As Fred Durst would later reflect, “when the dust settles, people can look back and realize we were about bringing fun… for better or for worse, we have always just been Limp Bizkit.” In 2013, that fun came crashing through in its purest form — messy, nostalgic, and absolutely ferocious.
Nostalgia and the No-Hit Setlist
Contrary to many reunion acts, Limp Bizkit’s weren’t cashing in with a polished greatest-hits revue or chasing a trendy new sound. They were recapturing a feeling — the carefree aggression and absurd humor that defined their turn-of-the-millennium peak. Durst, now in his 40s, bounded across stages with the same chaotic energy as the MTV days, while guitarist Wes Borland stalked in face paint and costume, a surreal avatar of the band’s enduring weirdness. The fanbase, too, spanned generations: goths next to excitable nostalgia-hunters and rowdy metalheads. In this weird communal moment, irony and sincerity moshed together.
Fred Durst understood exactly why these crowds were here. Nostalgia was the lifeblood of the tour — and he embraced it with a sly nod and a middle finger. “Realistically, how many of you guys are going to sit around and want us to play a bunch of songs that no one knows?” he asked rhetorically when discussing the tour’s approach. Bizkit made sure to cram the setlist with the songs everyone came to scream along to — “Nookie,” “My Generation,” “Rollin’” — those turn-of-the-century anthems that once blared from TRL and wrestling arenas. “The live shows are what we are all about… making everyone happy,” Durst told one interviewer in 2013. “We don’t make a set list to make people happy — we just go with the flow… It’s about the momentum and the feeling of the night.”
Every show became an exercise in reading the room, diving deep into the catalog when diehard fans were out “in droves” for deep cuts, but never losing the casual fans who just came to party. “We’re not self-indulgent and [aren’t] going to stand up there playing a song we think is great while the audience goes and gets a beer,” Durst laughed. “We want to keep the fans engaged.” Engaged they were. From small American clubs to European festivals, Limp Bizkit’s 2013 performances often erupted into scenes reminiscent of their notorious late-90s gigs — minus some of the darker chaos of those years. There was an element of redemption in the air. At Australia’s Soundwave festival, the band paid tribute to Jessica Michalik (the teenage fan who died in a 2001 Bizkit mosh pit tragedy), dedicating their return to her memory and vowing to share their unique Limp Bizkit experience with a new sincerity. Clearly, time had changed some perspectives. Durst no longer came to incite a riot; he came to create a communal catharsis.
The band even opted to revisit the same small halls and clubs they started out in for their first U.S. run. “We haven’t hit the States since 2001… We wanted to see and touch our core fans and have the feeling we did when we first started out,” Durst explained of the intimate tour routing. Rather than chase arena-sized glory immediately, Limp Bizkit chose to rebuild from the ground up, reclaiming their roots one gritty, high-energy gig at a time.
For Durst and crew, this return was as much about personal renewal as it was about entertaining the crowd. After years out of the American spotlight, playing mostly overseas, they were reveling in the simple joy of plugging in and letting it rip. “Things have been going good… We love playing and being on stage,” Durst said earnestly. “It’s not the get rich business anymore; it’s the be grateful business. We get to go out and do what we love to do.” The gratitude in his voice is unmistakable — a decade removed from the days of tabloid feuds and celebrity excess, the frontman once dismissed as rock’s most egotistical villain now sounded almost humbled by the opportunity to still be heard.
The Lost Stampede and Unchained Creativity
Amid all this tour frenzy, Limp Bizkit also had new music brewing — an upcoming album with the bizarre title Stampede of the Disco Elephants. The name alone was a statement: absurd, cartoonish, self-aware — in other words, pure Limp Bizkit. Ever since their last record (Gold Cobra in 2011), the band had been writing and teasing new songs, and by 2013 the hype around Stampede was growing. Durst stoked the fires, describing the record with palpable excitement. “We are putting the final touches on it right now. I hope to find a nice little spot at the end of summer to put it out,” he said in May 2013. The first single, “Ready to Go” featuring Lil Wayne, had just dropped — a blaring rap-rock party anthem that bridged the gap between 1999’s Significant Other and modern hip-hop swagger.
“Ready to Go” was a bold choice for a comeback track: six minutes of moshing guitars, raunchy rhymes, and Lil Wayne’s auto-tuned braggadocio crashing into Durst’s growls. It felt like Limp Bizkit, yet sounded like 2013. Reviews were mixed — some outlets rolled their eyes at its juvenile brashness, but fans ate it up. The music video racked up millions of views, and Durst’s unapologetic antics announced that Bizkit’s irreverent spirit was intact. If the world was curious whether these aging nü-metal rebels could still bring it, “Ready to Go” answered with a resounding “Hell yes” — with an extra side of irony.
Fred Durst knew that a Limp Bizkit 2013 revival needed to balance on a knife’s edge: respect the nostalgia but push forward creatively. And in the studio, he was intent on doing just that. After years on a major label treadmill, Bizkit had new freedom thanks to an unlikely deal with Cash Money Records — the home of Lil Wayne, Birdman, and Drake. The signing stunned both rock and hip-hop worlds, but for Durst it made perfect sense. “The band has always had an urban element,” he noted. Cash Money wanted a rock act and gave Limp Bizkit free rein to be themselves. “Once we signed with Cash Money Records they told [us] just be ourselves and do what we do. That empowered us… We went into the studio with no preconceived notions about delivering a pop hit or whatever,” Durst explained. They sought out the dingiest studio in the San Fernando Valley — “the raunchiest place we could find” — and hunkered down to write with zero pressure and all inhibition shed. Ideas flowed fast and wild. “Things came out so fast. It was all new material that we tracked. We were all very excited and inspired by the sessions.”
By all accounts, Stampede of the Disco Elephants was shaping up to be a ferocious throwback to everything fans loved about Limp Bizkit. “The album is kind of a nod to the old days of the band’s sound,” Durst revealed. “There are a lot of cool riffs that sound monstrous. The album is very inspired and honest.” In spirit, it felt like the clock rewound to 1997, when a hungry young Limp Bizkit cut Three Dollar Bill, Y’all with no expectations and everything to prove. “With a band’s first album no one knows what’s going to happen… after a while you are forced to start chasing radio hits… That was all gone this time around. It was incredible having that pressure off,” Durst said, reflecting on how liberating the Stampede process was.
Fans sensed that danger — that the band might shock everyone with an album that unapologetically sounds like Limp Bizkit, trendiness be damned. By late 2013, anticipation for Stampede of the Disco Elephants was running high. Durst hinted at a late-summer release, which then slid to end of the year, then early 2014. “Ready to Go” was blasting from car stereos, and another new song “Endless Slaughter” appeared as a free download. Everything seemed poised for Limp Bizkit to formally announce their rebirth with a bang.
Then… nothing. The Stampede never materialized. Release dates came and went; radio silence set in. By 2014, it was clear that Stampede of the Disco Elephants had wandered into the wilderness, one of rock’s great lost albums. The band went on touring for years without a new record, riding that nostalgia wave and keeping the faith that the album would see daylight eventually. Apart from a few singles and teases, Stampede remained in limbo — a phantom stomp echoing only in memory. When Limp Bizkit finally dropped a surprise album in 2021 (Still Sucks), it effectively closed the chapter on a record that would never be. In 2013, however, that fate was unknown. Back then, Stampede of the Disco Elephants signified hope and validation, proving Limp Bizkit was creating, not just reliving old glories.
“We Just Go”: Legacy of Unapologetic Chaos
A decade earlier, Limp Bizkit’s ride had careened off track amid controversies and burnout. In 2013, they found a new groove by embracing exactly who they are — the unapologetic clowns and adrenaline junkies of rock — and doing it on their own terms. Where once Fred Durst felt hounded by the media and buried under his red-cap caricature, now he seemed content, even happy, to wear that mantle with a wink. “I created that monster… I’m Dr. Frankenstein,” he once said of his turn-of-the-century self, acknowledging how the “Fred Durst” character took on a life of its own. But in this resurgence, Durst no longer seemed devoured by that monster — he was finally in control of it.
That peace came through in his art. In 2013 he was simultaneously fronting a nu-metal circus and pursuing quieter creative passions, from scouting film projects to writing scripts. “Every once in a while some cool opportunities come up for me to do some acting,” he said. “I have been doing some directing lately as well as a lot of writing… I also sold some television shows recently including one to Showtime.” Rock and film operated on very different wavelengths for him. “I am under the pressure of the microphone when I am recording… I just go,” he explained. “With a script… there is a formula… things need to happen in specific areas. For me, I think they are very different processes.” In other words, rock’n’roll is a realm of freedom and instinct, whereas filmmaking demands patience and structure. Even as he dabbled in Hollywood, Fred Durst’s soul remained the punk kid from Jacksonville who thrived on improvisation and impulse.
Perhaps that is the secret to Limp Bizkit’s endurance. While trends wax and wane and critics scoff and move on, Durst and his bandmates keep trusting their gut, doing it “their way” — for better or worse. It’s what made them misfit heroes to millions at the turn of the century, and what made their 2013 resurgence so compelling. They didn’t return to polish their image or rewrite history; they returned as the exuberant, obnoxious, joyous band they’d always been. The cultural zeitgeist, oddly enough, came to meet them there. By the mid-2010s, a hunger for late-90s nostalgia meant the world was ready to re-embrace even the most polarizing of nu-metal acts. Limp Bizkit thus found themselves headlining festivals, trending on social media, their old videos turned viral memes, and their new performances drawing curiosity and acclaim.
Standing in that spotlight, Durst seemed a different man than the angry youth who once snarled “I’m broke” into a camera lens. There’s a moment during their 2013 tour — captured in countless fan videos — when he pauses between songs to soak it all in. Breathing heavily, sweat dripping, he gazes over the crowd of smiling, screaming faces and says simply: “Thank you… we’re lucky to be here.” In that brief silence, you sense Fred Durst’s own nostalgia for the days when this was all new, and for the journey that led him back. Then, with a chuckle, he cues the band, and they keep rollin’ into the next track. Because at its heart, the Limp Bizkit story has always been about living in the moment — about the raw, unfiltered blast of energy between a band and their fans. It’s unorthodox and messy, ridiculous to some and revelatory to others, but always authentic. “I am under the pressure of the microphone when I am recording… I just go,” Durst once said of his process. That could well be Limp Bizkit’s mission statement: don’t overthink it — just go.
In 2013, Limp Bizkit relit a fire. They took all the broken pieces of their past — the scandals, the multi-platinum highs, and catastrophic lows — and fused them into a new era of absurd, electrifying rock theater. They roared back onto the scene like a stampede, trampling cynicism under oversized sneakers, carrying the flag for a maligned genre with pride and a healthy smirk. It was chaotic, it was cathartic, and above all, it was fun. Fred Durst and his band proved you can go home again, even if home is a place as crazy as Limp Bizkit’s world. You just have to bulldoze your way in, music blaring, middle fingers in the air — and never, ever lose sight of the joy at the core of the chaos. As Dylan Thomas wrote, “rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Limp Bizkit did exactly that, turning nostalgia into a living, screaming, pogo-ing riot.
Still Breakin’ Stuff: Limp Bizkit in 2024
A decade later, Limp Bizkit is still standing, still stomping, and still throwing sonic Molotovs into the mainstream. In 2024, the band dropped their latest single, “Turn It Up, Bitch”, proving they’ve lost none of their raw, irreverent energy. The track is pure Bizkit chaos—thumping basslines, Fred Durst’s signature blend of cocky and self-aware lyricism, and DJ Lethal back behind the decks, scratching and cutting like the band never left the golden era. The music video is a surrealist neon fever dream, packed with their signature over-the-top humor and refusal to take anything—including themselves—too seriously.
It’s a testament to their longevity that, in a world that’s changed drastically since their late-90s heyday, Limp Bizkit still knows how to disrupt. They’re not here for industry approval or nostalgia cash-ins. They’re here because they love it, because the music and the mayhem are woven into their DNA. And in that, there’s a kinship with what we do at RIOT—pushing creative boundaries, respecting the past while relentlessly innovating, refusing to color inside the lines. Limp Bizkit has always been a band about movement—rolling, breaking, and rebuilding. It’s a philosophy we share: burn the rulebook, rewrite the story, and turn it up louder.
For a band once written off by critics as a relic of the past, Limp Bizkit keeps proving that the past isn’t something to escape—it’s something to remix. And in 2024, they’re still marching, still moshing, still making chaos fun. The stampede isn’t over. Not even close.
The Full 2013 Altsounds x Fred Durst Interview
The following is the original transcript from our interview with Fred Durst, conducted on May 7, 2013, during Limp Bizkit’s U.S. tour. Interview by Adam Robertshaw.
Limp Bizkit have always been one of those “Marmite” bands that people either love or hate. They shot to fame in the late nineties through the early naughties when they were pioneers of the nu-metal movement that fused hip-hop and metal together into one genre. Despite selling millions of albums over the years, Limp Bizkit—and especially their outspoken frontman Fred Durst—had their fair share of criticism thrown at them.
After numerous fallouts and a three-year hiatus, Limp Bizkit reformed in 2009 and in recent years appear to be invigorated and undergoing somewhat of a revival. Now on a new label, embarking on a sold-out US tour, and writing a new album entitled Stampede of the Disco Elephants, things are looking up. AltSounds had the privilege of speaking to Fred Durst as he prepared for a sold-out show at The Ram’s Head in Baltimore. And despite his reputation as an egomaniac, it turns out he’s actually a really nice guy.
AltSounds: So how is the tour going so far?
Fred Durst: The shows have been really awesome. We made a point of playing all the small venues that we used to play on the way up. The shows are intimate and have a lot of character. It has a real punk rock vibe to it. The only difference is that when we played the small venues years ago we didn’t have a decent sound guy. Now we’re playing the smaller venues but pushing their PA to the limits and they’re sounding great. It’s what is great about Cash Money as a record company—they give us the freedom to do what we want.
AltSounds: Now that you’re on Cash Money, which is also home to people like Lil’ Wayne, Drake, and other urban artists, will the new album Stampede of the Disco Elephants have a more urban direction?
Fred Durst: Actually, the record we’ve just recorded is more traditionally Limp Bizkit than any of our latest material. The song “Ready To Go” seems to be the most urban of the heavy tracks. I’m a fan of Lil’ Wayne and wanted to do a heavy song with him because people don’t realize this, but he loves heavy music. And even though he’s an incredible rapper, he’s also a skater and loves heavy music. So it was fun to be able to get really heavy and slow the tempo down and do just a belligerent hip-hop track with him over a heavy metal banger. But other than that, Stampede of the Disco Elephants is more reminiscent of the old days if I had to compare it to anything. Really great, cool riffs, interesting structures, and solid drum beats. We recorded it in a garage. We wanted to do it so it felt like just some guys who have fun writing and jamming in a band room. So we found the shittiest fuckin’ way to record that we possibly could and found the shittiest band room to write the record in, but it was really fuckin’ awesome, man. We feel it’s kind of a heavy record and not hip-hop—less hip-hop than usual anyway.
AltSounds: Cool! Any closer to having a solid release date for it yet?
Fred Durst: I’m feeling like summer, but I haven’t decided on an actual date. I feel like mid-summer will be a good time for it.
AltSounds: Just in time for festival season then? You’ve got Download coming up in the UK—looking forward to that?
Fred Durst: Yeah, we’re very excited for that. When we were putting all our stuff together, we had an opportunity to headline the second stage at Download and we were like “fuck yeah!” We had such a great time the first time. Granted, Rammstein will be playing at the same time as us, so I’m gonna be pissed off that I miss their show, but yeah, I can’t wait to play Download. We’ve also got Sonisphere, Rock Am Park, Rock Am Ring, then over to Russia to headline a couple of festivals over there. Then we’re gonna come back and do a proper, full-on Limp Bizkit UK headline tour.
AltSounds: We certainly look forward to that. Back to your current tour, who have you got in support?
Fred Durst: Right now we’ve got this kid named Ryan Campbell. He’s a one-man band. I went into this bar before the tour and you know, everyone and their mother were sending us requests to open up the tour, all these bands. So I was in this bar watching this kid Ryan Campbell with a loop pedal and a guitar, and I was blown away. He sounded so dope, and I said “Hey man, you wanna go on tour with Limp Bizkit?” and he was like “What?!” I said “Yeah, do you want to go?” and he said yes, so we put him on the tour. Nobody knows about him, and we’re having him open up the shows instead of it just being the obvious, you know? It’s usually the local band that’s heavy that people think fits with Limp Bizkit or whatever, but to tell you the truth, all different kinds of stuff fit with Limp Bizkit. It doesn’t have to be so predictable sometimes.
AltSounds: So how is Ryan finding the tour? It sounds like something from a fairy tale!
Fred Durst: He’s fuckin’ blown away. The dude is freaking out, like, every day. He’s got his own dressing room and he’s on the bus with us, and he’s just like “Oh my god!” But he’s really good, man. I wish you guys could see him. It’s hard to explain what he does, but it’s fun to watch. Plus, he’s a really good guy. I never knew him before, but he’s a really good person.
AltSounds: Fair play to you for giving an unknown artist the chance to go on tour with Limp Bizkit. Good on you.
Fred Durst: Believe me, it’s pissing off the promoters because they’re like “nobody knows him,” but the shows are sold out, so it doesn’t matter. I think a lot of them have favors they need to do for people. I don’t know. I don’t want to piss anybody off, but it’s fun to be able to do what we want to do.
AltSounds: You guys have had your ups and downs over the years. Are you getting along OK these days?
Fred Durst: Besides the fact that we miss DJ Lethal, we’re getting along really good. Our camaraderie is at an all-time high. The family is really tight, and we’ve really evolved to know how to share close space with each other and get along great. The process has been as interesting as any, but we like to think we’ve reached a positive result. Besides Lethal not being here, everything’s great.
AltSounds: What’s the story with Lethal not being there?
Fred Durst: We’re just taking a break because we’re all not seeing things eye-to-eye. But we’ve been in communications, and we love him to death. We’re very supportive of him, and we want him to be happy. We do miss him—how could we not, you know?
AltSounds: Have you got anyone filling in for him for the tour?
Fred Durst: No one that you could really call a fill-in. All we did was have his technician playing the parts. We didn’t find anyone to replace him. It’s just more of a rock outfit now.
AltSounds: For a while it was very unfashionable to like Limp Bizkit, but lately there seems to have been a bit of a revival, with the tours selling out etc. What do you think has caused this?
Fred Durst: To be honest, I think it’s always been fashionable to talk shit about Limp Bizkit, and that’s probably some guilty pleasure for some people who talk a lot of shit—but they really do enjoy how it feels at the concerts when they have a great time… they’re just scared to admit it. Limp Bizkit is that guilty pleasure; they’re like “honey, I have a business meeting tonight,” and then they pull their Limp Bizkit shirt out of their trunk and go to the concert.
AltSounds: I suppose there is also an element of nostalgia to it too. I know a lot of people, myself included, who grew up listening to Limp Bizkit. But are the new songs getting as good a reaction as the old stuff?
Fred Durst: Oh, we’re not playing anything new. New stuff would suck. That would be the moment of the show where you’re gonna fall asleep or go get a beer. We’ve been doing a lot of album tracks though, not just the popular songs. Every once in a while we might play “Ready To Go”, but other than that we just play whatever we feel the day deserves, and we make up the set right before we go on stage. We change it while we’re up there like a DJ would at a club. No new material is going out live yet, though. When I go see bands play, I’m usually an album-cut guy… but if they go into something else, maybe once is OK, but if they do too much of it I’m going “come on, man!” You wanna sing along and share the experience with the band live. So I’m thinking for a crowd as I would as an audience member. I’ll sit through your self-indulgence for a little bit, but not much. Get to the fucking songs!
AltSounds: So you’re not going to do a Billy Corgan and play your brand new album from start to finish before getting to the hits?
Fred Durst: Is that what he did?
AltSounds: Yeah. AltSounds saw Smashing Pumpkins in Melbourne last year where they played their “Oceana” album from start to finish. Needless to say, the crowd didn’t seem very interested.
Fred Durst: Wow, that’s very ballsy of him. I’m a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan, by the way. I love Lull and Gish and Siamese Dream. Those records are fucking unbelievable… but wow, I didn’t know about that.
AltSounds: Yeah, like you say, it’s very ballsy of him. Back to Limp Bizkit though—you’ve always been a band that seems to divide opinion. People seem to either love you or hate you. How do you cope with the haters?
Fred Durst: You know what, it’s not easy. You just get used to being bruised. You just have to stay focused and move forward, always being like a fish swimming upstream. The bullying doesn’t stop. I’ve been bullied my whole fucking life, and it’s one of the reasons I decided to stand up for myself with a microphone through my band, but it didn’t actually stop any of it. Success doesn’t stop it. It’s just the way things are gonna be, and it definitely hurts sometimes.
I try not to think about it too much and just try to do good for people and be the best person I can be. You can’t dwell on it though, man, and I understand Limp Bizkit is a polarizing thing. I just have to accept it, deal with it, and make sure the people that do have a good time with it are the people I continue to engage with.
AltSounds: And like you said in “Ready To Go,” you don’t give a fuck and you probably never will. Does that mean there is a slim chance that you might give a fuck one day?
Fred Durst: (Laughs) The thing with a song like “Ready To Go” is that you can just say whatever the fuck you want. That’s what’s fun about the hip-hop part of it. There’s this braggadocious element to hip-hop, and you get to have fun with it. A lot of it is not to be taken seriously or literally. Most people know that, but some people don’t, and they really hang on every word. They’re like “you said you don’t give a fuck and probably never will.” Well, kinda, but I obviously care. A lot. But that line is directed to the haters.
AltSounds: I suppose a lot of the lyrics in that song could be seen as quite misogynistic if taken seriously, but like you say it’s just the way hip-hop is.
Fred Durst: Oh man, I know. We can’t win for losing, bro. It’s like no matter what, they’re gonna find something; they’re gonna dig a fart out of an asshole. I mean, to take that song literally in hip-hop would be ridiculous. But because we’re a rock band and I’m me, maybe everyone thinks it’s supposed to be literal. I don’t call anybody “Pumpkin Pie.” There wasn’t even a woman’s face in my mind when I wrote that. It’s just ridiculous. I don’t even drink gin, dude! Not at all. I don’t ever drink gin… ever. It’s just a cool song about getting rowdy and having fun.
Limp Bizkit are currently on tour in the US. For tickets and information click here. We’re keeping a close eye on these guys because, by the sound of it, they have a potentially ace album up their sleeves.
They headline Download Festival at Donnington Park on Sunday, June 16, 2013. Tickets can be purchased here.
